10 things I learnt about gardening this year
mostly the hard way, of course.
I’ve always enjoyed gardening, from being a small child with a Lego haircut, posing at the top of a ladder with my homegrown sunflowers, to my first dabble in cut-flower gardening a few years back.
However, this year was the year I truly found my feet with gardening, having my first owned garden has resulted in a couple of seasons worth of learning, growing, making mistakes and finding a lot of joy along the way.
I’m not one to sit on plans long; I love to just start trying even when I know I’m likely to make a few mistakes. It’s how we learn, right?
This year has seen new borders being dug, perennials planted, trees finding their roots and vegetable patches being raised. I’d love to tell you everything went to plan; sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t.
My cosmos are still flowering even now in this rainy start to autumn, but in the same patch, I frightened my salix tree by underwatering it during our mini heatwave here in the south of England. It lost all of its leaves, I had to cut it back too heavily I was terrified it wouldn’t come back. Luckily it did, and brighter than ever.
I planted rocket, cos lettuce and Swiss chard to find out that a cloche isn’t actually a nice-to-have, but more of a necessity. At least I feel like I may have single-handedly repopulated the cabbage white butterfly population I guess.
It’s not all bad news though, as I write this I currently have a bunch of carrots from the garden roasting in the oven, whilst my runner beans are boiling. And damn, your own produce hits so differently in the tastebud department.
I guess what I’m trying to convey here is that gardening isn’t easy to master off the bat, and that’s a good thing. Making mistakes is all part of the journey, and in a world where going through the mistake process isn’t celebrated, it’s comforting to be able to do that within the confines of your garden.
Anyway, here are a few lessons I’ve learnt in the garden this year.
Gardening life lessons
Turns out seeds do want to grow, so when the packet mentions spacing, it’s probably a good idea to heed the instructions. Overcrowding really makes for a bug haven.
Caterpillars are ruthless, a cloche is an absolute necessity. I learnt this the hard way after losing pretty much all of my leafy produce, all for the sake of not buying a fancy net.
It doesn’t take long for a garden to become a space for nature. Gardens can still be growing, but choosing good pollinator flowers means you can have an abundance of bees, butterflies and other nice bugs in the meantime.
The best gardens take time and give space to experiment and learn.
And on that note, no garden is ever really truly finished. It will take up every inch of your free brain space (in a very good way).
Companion planting is incredible. The fact that planting tomatoes and basil together makes sense is pretty much the universe saying you deserve all the pizza.
You can begin to enjoy a rainy summer’s day when you have a water butt. “Oh no it’s raining” becomes “Ahh, free water”.
Seed heads and plant cuttings make your plants feel like the best investments, you can have so many more plants, for free. Wild.
You probably don’t need to keep all those spare nursing pots, but you will. Gardening will make a hoarder out of you.
Growing your own produce will make you feel like all of your other life achievements are minuscule in comparison. I wish I was joking.
A bonus lesson learnt was discovering how brilliant Gardener’s World is.
I’m so excited to head into the next growing year with some experience under my belt; I’ve already been sowing some annuals and my bulbs are still being planted so there’s plenty more to learn in the last few months of the year.
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Speak soon, Allie ☁️